Adjustable conveyor device



g- 15, 1967 J. P. v MARTIN 3,335,842

ADJUSTABLE CONVEYOR DEVICE Filed Dec. '7, 1964 JiQ-Q 2 a r 3 i 1 E 1 N E I w me I 151k! j m m j l fif j\ 4 i I Ba u a I INVENTOR 9 I N JEAN PIERRE ARTHUR MARTIN BY a ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofitice 3,335,842 ADJUSTABLE CONVEYOR DEVICE Jean Pierre Arthur Martin, Rue de Montdidier, Breteuil-sur-Noye, Oise, France Filed Dec. 7, 1964, Ser. No. 416,496 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 6, 1963, 956,387, Patent 1,430,086 2 Claims. (Cl. 19888) The present invention relates to improvements to or relating to known driving devices provided within silos for storing grains in order to facilitate the draining and/or the filling of the cells which define the silos, and also to insure the levelling of each cell in the course of the storing, so that the grain which must be submitted to the ventilation which is necessary for its preservation is distributed as best as possible.

According to this invention, said improvements aim. to increase the efiiciency of said devices and, more particularly, these improvements relate to the means used to insure an automatic operation. Moreover, said improvements relate also to the means used for realizing particular operations normally effected in a different manner, as is the case, for example, for the loading, from a cell of a silo, of any apparatuses or conveying means.

According to the present invention, the device includes a suspended beam, which is vertically movable and the ends of which carry a lifting winch, and a speed-reducing motor unit which is rotatable in either direction and associated with a reversing device, said unit being provided to insure a continuous running of at least one driving element intended to cause the material supporting the device to move in a longitudinal direction.

The above-mentioned characteristics and advantages of this invention will appear together with other as the following description proceeds and as defined in the appended claims.

Embodiments of this invention are shown in an illustrative and by no means limitative manner in the annexed drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view in elevation of a device according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in partial section at a larger scale, taken along the line IIII in FIG. 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic longitudinal elevation representing another embodiment of the device according to this invention.

In a known fashion, the device according to this invention is suspended from two movable carriers or trucks 1 supported by rails 2, fitted in the framework of a silo, or still by trussed-girders normally provided in said framework. The particular arrangement of these different memhers is, of course, intended to allow a vertical movement as well as a transversal movement of the device which is designed so as to entirely sweep the length of each pit or cell defined by the silo.

The movable carriers 1, the number of which is a function of the device length, are associated, e.g. through cables and return-pulleys, with driving members which are adapted to move said carriers on the beams or the trussed-girders 2. In addition, said movable carriers are connected to the device by cables 3 the winding or the unwinding of which are such that the vertical position of the device is cont-rolled thereby.

Said device comprises a lattice beam member 4 having secured to its upper face return-pulleys 5 around which the cables 3 are normally wound onto a winch drum 6. Pulleys 5 are advantageously associated, although this is not shown, with movable members constituting a tensioniug unit and intended to maintain cables 3 from escaping from pulleys 5 when such cables are not submitted to a 3,335,842 Patented Aug. 15, 1967 pulling force in the case when the device lies on the bottom of a pit or cell.

Moreover, the lattice beam 4 is designed so that the ends thereof support toothed wheels 7 around which is trained driving belt conveyor means 8 which may be constituted by any suitable type of band, particularly by a continuous band or by two parallel chains 9 of the sprocket-type, which are connected together, as shown in FIG. 2, by flat U-shaped bars 10, to constitute scraping members. One end of the device supports a reducing gearmotor unit 11, adapted to rotate the winding drum '6. The other end of the beam 4 forms bearings or a frame capable to adapt a reducing gear-motor unit 12, the rotation of which is transmitted by a belt, a chain or toothed wheels to the corresponding toothed wheel 7 so that the belt means 8 is caused to run continuously. In this manner, the lower run of said belt, from which the scraping elements protrude to an extent determined with respect to beam 4, is submitted to a continuous longitudinal movement by which, through said scraping members, the upper layer of the grain, contained in a silo cell and with which the device is permanently maintained in contact, is caused to move longitudinally in either direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the device according to this invention includes a beam 4 so designed that the central part thereof defines a cradle 13 supporting two toothed wheels 14 and 15. Said wheels are both connected to the farthest corresponding toothed wheel 7 by separate belts 8 and 8" comprising either two parallel chains as described hereinabove, or one continous band. In such an arrangement, the secondary toothed wheel 14, which is normally driven by the belt 8 as soon as the reducing gear-motor unit 12 is actuated, drives through a chain, a belt or pinions, a transmitting pinion set 16, which controls through the instrumentality of intermediary members, the secondary toothed wheel 15 so as to operate the second belt 8. Said set 16 is designed so that both bands run always in opposite directions, in order either to cause the grain to be displaced towards the ends of the device or to be displaced towards the central part, according to the initial direction of rotation of the reducing gear-motor unit 12, which is normally associated with a speed varying device and with a reversing unit.

In this manner, it is possible to insure simultaneously by the opposed lateral sides the draining or the filling of the cells while at the same time maintaining a grain level substantially constant. It is evident that, in order to facilitate the normal steps during a conventional use of the device, the transmitting pinion set 16 has a run reversing device which causes both belts to be moved simultaneously in the same direction. In such an example, it is advantageous to fit the continuous belt, or both continuous belts, with scraping members 10, as shown in FIG. 2, which allow, in contradiction with the scraping members presently used, a lateral sweeping. Alternatively, said belt means 8 may comprise a single belt 8a extending the full length of the beam 4 between the two wheels 7, as shown in FIG. 3.

Although a certain specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is obvious that many modifications thereof are possible. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for handling bulk material, comprising overhead rails, a truck movable on each of said rails, a lattice beam, pulleys on said trucks and said beam, a single cable trained around said pulleys and movably suspending said lattice beam from said rails, winch means on said lattice beam and connected with said cable for raising and lowering said beam, endless belt conveyor means trained longitudinally of said beam, and drive means on said beam and drivingly connected with said belt means for operating the latter, said winch means being at one end of said beam and said drive means being at the other end of said beam to counterbalance each other, said belt means comprising two endless belt conveyors respectively extending from the ends of said beam to the center thereof, and drive transmitting means between the inner end of the belt connected with said drive means and the inner end of the other belt whereby the latter belt is driven from the first belt.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said drive transmitting means drives the belts in opposite directions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1921 Lombi 198-126 X 12/1925 Ahrens 214-17 10/1933 Rund et al 198-230 3/1936 Smith 198-168 10/1938 Neal 198-102 6/1950 Cham-berlin 214-17 8/1953 Dickson 214-17 4/ 1961 Cleaveland.

FOREIGN PATENTS 2/ 1952 France.

7/1912 Germany. 10/ 1940 Germany.

6/ 1921 Sweden.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR HANDLING BULK MATERIAL, COMPRISING OVERHEAD RAILS, A TRUCK MOVABLE ON EACH OF SAID RAILS, A LATTICE BEAM, PULLEYS ON SAID TRUCKS AND SAID BEAM, A SINGLE CABLE TRAINED AROUND SAID PULLEYS AND MOVABLY SUSPENDING SAID LATTICE BEAM FORM SAID RAILS, WINCH MEANS ON SAID LATTICE BEAM AND CONNECTED WITH SAID CABLE FOR RAISING AND LOWERING SAID BEAM, ENDLESS BELT CONVEYOR MEANS TRAINED LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID BEAM, AND DRIVE MEANS ON SAID BEAM AND DRIVINGLY CONNECTED WITH SAID BELT MEANS FOR OPERATING THE LATTER, SAID WINCH MEANS BEING AT ONE END OF SAID BEAM AND SAID DRIVE MEANS BEING AT THE OTHER END OF SAID BEAM TO COUNTERBALANCE EACH OTHER, SAID BELT MEANS COMPRISING TWO ENDLESS BELT CONVEYORS RESPECTIVELY EXTENDING FROM THE ENDS OF SAID BEAM TO THE CENTER THEREOF, AND DRIVE TRANSMITTING MEANS BETWEEN THE INNER END OF THE BELT CONNECTED WITH SAID DRIVE MEANS AND THE INNER END OF THE OTHER BELT WHEREBY THE LATTER BELT IS DRIVEN FROM THE FIRST BELT. 